Assistant in Göttingen

Max Born and Wolfgang Pauli

Wolfgang Pauli then went to Göttingen University, which had a long tradition as a maths stronghold. In the 1921/22 winter semester Pauli became Professor Max Born's (external link) regular assistant. In this year Born returned to his alma mater at which he had already been promoted to professor in 1909. The professor was now training an entire vanguard of young atomic physicists in the tradition of Felix Klein and David Hilbert; Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan (external link) can be mentioned at this point.

Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli

A decisive event for the young assistant was attendance at the famous "Bohr Festival" (Niels Bohr's lecture series on atomic physics) in June 1922. It was here that Pauli got to know the Danish physicist Niels Bohr (external link), who invited him to his institute in Copenhagen. By dint of his personality, Bohr acted as a unifying figure for a large circle of young atomic physicists, who advanced quantum theory in fruitful discussions.

In 1922/23 Wolfgang Pauli spent a year studying at the institute in Copenhagen and maintained a close friendship with Bohr for the rest of his life.